Sixth form open evening

Year 12 open evening

Highfields Sixth Form

I always, ALWAYS make sure that my diary is free when sixth form assemblies are on. I quickly finish whatever meeting I’m in and rush down to the Wheeldon Hall to join students for their weekly dose of inspiration. At the centre of these assemblies are the inspiring and energetic team of Martin Flett and Liz Cruise. Mr Flett raises his hand and the students mirror him, falling into pin drop silence (a whole school strategy we have developed to avoid raised voices).

A recent assembly started with him waving a golf putter around his head. Students (and I) were intrigued. Mr Flett asked them to count the number of shots he took. He carefully putted the ball and it rolled noisily between the banks of chairs to the back of the hall. All agreed that he had hit it once. Mr Flett explained the story of the professional golfer who admitted swinging his club over the ball as he went up to it, which counted as two shots rather than one. No one noticed, it wasn’t filmed and he was given $55,000 in prize money. Thinking about it further, he went to the judges, told them what had happened, and his honesty cost him the entire prize.

The question to students was what do you do when no one is watching? We value the independence that students get in sixth form. So, this question was not only about honesty, integrity and reliability but it also asked questions about students’ commitment to their studies when working privately in our library or at home.

Such is the thought and consideration which surrounds our sixth form students. It’s no surprise with this level of expectation backed up with an individual approach to each student’s needs, that our students do so well, typically matching the results of the top 25% of schools in the country.

Our work in the classroom is, of course, just as crucial. In our school at least one senior leader visits every classroom, every day to ensure that students are meeting their teachers’ very high standards and to sample our fascinating and engaging curriculum.

Mr Flett’s most recent assembly featured one of our sixth form alumni. This was George who popped up on the BBC in ‘Fake or Fortune’ as a renowned expert in forensic metallurgy. George’s fellow students find themselves following all sorts of paths on leaving Highfields including Sophie who read History and German at Oxford or Mark who undertook a degree apprenticeship at Balfour Beattie.

Away from their academic studies, much store is put on our students’ responsibility to their community, be that locally or, as they become more influential, nationally or internationally. We facilitate activities such as, for example, supporting a local care home and we focus a great deal on developing the ethics and personal attributes of our students. Earlier in this term we took a band of sixth formers off for a camping and water sports weekend: it’s the whole student we are interested in.

And so our sixth form values may start in assembly but they extend, we hope, through everything we do both in, and out, of Highfields School for what we hope will be, lead citizens of the future.

We hope you will consider Highfields sixth form and attend our open evening to find out the opportunities we can offer you.

A Marsh Headteacher